Allison and Wes Rhea became the proud parents of naturally-conceived identical triplet girls earlier this February. According to ABC news, only 1 in 1,000,000 births happen this way.
Dr. Chang, a neonatologist at Abington Memorial Hospital, explained to CBS that the rarity of spontaneous triplets is because the embryos all come from the same zygote and split.
Mom and dad found out they were having triplets during their first ultrasound. "I just expected to see one," Rhoa told ABC. "Then the technician said to my husband that he better sit down.”
At 33 weeks, Allison gave birth to three baby daughters: Ava, Avery and Alissa. “I still can’t believe it that it happened," she told CBS Philly.
Though mom and dad are taking in all of the recent turn-of-events, the preemie "A-team" girls are doing fine. All are breathing on their own, and are expected to leave the hospital in a few weeks. For now, the new parents are taking their time to learn the ropes.
“As soon as you’re done feeding all three and the other ones are rested you’ve got to start all over again. So it’s non-stop,” said Wes.
Perhaps the Rheas and the parents of these newborn identical quadruplets should combine forces for support... or to buy power-ball numbers, because chance is definitely on their side.
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated the chances of naturally conceiving identical triplets are 1 in 100,000. Experts estimate chances are actually 1 in 1,000,000.
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